


Music Box: A Seongsang Story.

by jialintheviolin



Category: ATEEZ (Band), K-pop
Genre: ATEEZ - Freeform, College, M/M, Past, Past Lives, Past life, Woosan, kpop, period, seongsang
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26747974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jialintheviolin/pseuds/jialintheviolin
Summary: A story set in three periods. Three very different settings. Three very different stories. And maybe, three very different endings... Yet all connected together by a music box. Each time the music box opens, we waltz through the eras. A dance between a rose, and a tiger. A very messy fate bound together by the red string of fate.---A Seongsang Story.---Have you ever wondered why we meet the people we meet? Did we have a past life? How many past lives did we have? Perhaps we meet specific people for specific reasons. A grudge unsettled in your past life? Maybe you were destined to become lovers every time? But because you're in a different lifetime, you're in a different setting. And because you're in a different setting, you met for a very different reason. And because you met for a very different reason, your ending must be different every lifetime. Does it?It's a story set in three periods. With three very different settings. Each time the music box opens, we waltz through the eras. It's a dance between a rose, and a tiger. A messy fate bound together by the red string of fate.
Relationships: Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	1. Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys. Well... Welcome to my first ever fanfic. As you'll have noticed if you've stuck around reading the fanfic long enough, my writing is quite rough and unedited, but I do promise that I'll make sure to edit it through and proofread it once I've finished with writing the fanfiction. I also do hope that my writing does improve as the fanfics progress. 
> 
> I'll also be updating at quite a slow speed because I currently do have online university classes. 
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated. Constructive criticism is also very much welcome as I am not a great writer and I'll need it to improve my writing.

_Joseon era:_

The markets were busy today in Hanseong, Joseon. The scholars were studying, the ladies of the houses were out and about buying silk, and expensive jewels to add to their already impressive collection. The slaves, as usual, were doing their masters' bidding, backs hunched over with an impossible load of items on their backs; wood, buckets of water and anything else they had been asked to do. The weather was nice too. Sunny, but not too hot. Perfect weather to lay by the side of the river and relax and bathe in the sun. It was Spring after all.

Outside one of the homes of a well-known family, Kang, sat their son, Gaosheng. Although he was not known to be the most talkative of the citizens, he was well-known for his beauty. On most days, he was the envy of the many ladies and men alike. The ladies envied his beauty whilst the men envied how popular he was amongst the ladies. However, it seemed like Gaosheng was not interested in any of them. He sat there most days observing his surroundings and painted them. His delicate hands moving the brush across the thin piece of parchment as everyone stared mesmerised wondering how someone could make even the simplest of movements so beautiful.

On this very particular day however, it seemed like the talk of the town was someone else. The son of an aristocrat had come into town. He was extremely handsome with striking features and a charisma that made many women fall to their feet when he passed them on his horse. He was also extremely polite, smart and well-versed. The ideal son-in-law, it just seemed like coincidence when Xinhua had passed Gaosheng... and blocked his view of the cherry blossoms he was in the middle of painting.

Slightly annoyed, Gaosheng turned to Xinhua and pouted, "Excuse me? You're blocking my view."

Xinhua turned around on his horse slightly, uttering, "Sorry, my mistake", before fully turning around and meeting Gaosheng straight in the eye.

It happened almost immediately. Their hearts began to race and they felt the pull towards each other as if they had become each other's gravity instead of the Earth. Stammering, Gaosheng said, "It's-it's okay. I-I was j-just painting the cherry blossoms that you blocked..."

For a minute Xinhua looked stunned, as if he didn't understand a single word Gaosheng had said before turning around and looking at the cherry blossoms. "Y-yes, the cherry blossoms. They are indeed very beautiful at this time of the year." He had said, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck with a shy smile. "Although you are even more beautiful," he added quietly under his breath.

Gaosheng nodded at the comment and blushed as well, looking down and finding his paint brush very interesting at the moment indicating that he had heard Xinhua's later comment.

After pausing for a moment, Xinhua got off his horse walked towards Gaosheng before grabbing his arm pulling him in so close one could think they were embracing.

"Come, I'll show you somewhere I go whenever I need some time alone to just think", Xinhua whispered into Gaosheng's ear. Gaosheng shivered slightly but agreed. Mounting the horse, they set off.

They rode for a while, and it was almost sunset when they arrived at the location. It was an extremely wide lake. From where they dismounted, it was a spectacular view. The tide was low and as the sun was setting, fireflies were starting to light up, dancing around the trees in the vicinity. The breeze blew sporadically, and it was a comfortable feeling against their clothes.

"It's nice," breathed Gaosheng softly, closing his eyes.

"Yes, it is. It's a special place I hold close to my heart. I used to come here all the time as a child to play whenever I wasn't at home studying," replied Xinhua as he sat down on the sand. His horse had gone off to the trees to munch the grass.

Gaosheng sat down too and warily leaned his head against Xinhua's shoulders. Xinhua's breath hitched slightly and his eyes drooped before he suddenly realised there was something in his bag saddle bag that he had wanted to show Gaosheng. Quietly standing up on his feet as to not wake Gaosheng up, he walked quickly to his bag and got out a curious instrument. He walked back to Gaosheng. By then, he was already awake and staring at the object in Xinhua's hand. It was an object quite unseen of in Joseon and Xinhua knew that. 

It was a wooden box, carved out of mahogany wood and painted white colour. On the sides, leaves were carved into the wood. Maple leaves. Red maple leaves, sugar maple leaves. Colours of all sorts contrasting vividly against each other. On top of the box, two words were carved in a language that both Gaosheng and Xinhua couldn't understand, focusing more on its beautiful calligraphy. 

"It's a music box," Xinhua whispered softly, "When you open up the lid, music will be played for a while before it stops and the box closes again automatically. My father received this as a parting gift from an American official when he was here on business here in Hanseong." Gaosheng was staring at the object in wonder. 

Setting the box down on the sand in front of them with care, he opened up the lid carefully and a ballerina appeared turning to a twinkling version of Fur Elise, its white figure seemed to shine against the black velvet. Nothing was spoken for a long while as they sat there in silence taking in the view. The sun had set by now and the moon had risen casting a silvery light over water. 

Gaosheng slowly nodded back to sleep on Xinhua's shoulders as Xinhua silently vowed to protect him from any dangers in the future. 

**A.N.** Let me know what you think. 


	2. Act 1: Allegro

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. Well... Welcome to my first ever fanfic. As you'll have noticed if you've stuck around reading the fanfic long enough, my writing is quite rough and unedited, but I do promise that I'll make sure to edit it through and proofread it once I've finished with writing the fanfiction. I also do hope that my writing does improve as the fanfics progress. 
> 
> I'll also be updating at quite a slow speed because I currently do have online university classes. 
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated. Constructive criticism is also very much welcome as I am not a great writer and I'll need it to improve my writing.

_1980s. Stanford University, California, United States of America:_

Ryusang Park did not like academics. He didn't like studying at all. In fact, he really wasn't even great at it, heaven knows how he managed to get an acceptance letter from Stanford University the year before. But there was one thing he disliked even more than academics. Actually, it was a person. Hwaseong Park. Rich, snobby and extremely smart, he was the college campus heartthrob. Ryusang couldn't understand why though, being very honest. Hwaseong Park always found a reason to try and annoy Ryusang. They were in the same law degree and cohort, and it was pointless to try and hide. Flanked alongside his three sidekicks, Edward, San, and Mingi, they always found a reason to tease Ryusang, whether it be because his class rankings or for another reason, it was tiring to say the very least.

It was the summer holidays, and he was dreading the return of the new fall semester next week. He was going to spend his sophomore year at college on a campus dormitory. He wondered who he was going to share the room with. He barely made any friends during his freshman year, and the friends he had made were all already sharing a room together. He heaved out a big sigh turning around on his bed to bury his face in his pillow.

\--- _Fast forward 1 month._ \---

Ryusang was standing in front of his campus dormitory room and he was positively fuming. Just what kind of stupid fucked up luck did he have that he just had to be roomed with the three people that consistently made his life a living hell at college?

Hwaseong, Edward and Mingi were all standing right in front of him, smiling widely. "Welcome!" Hwaseong said, trying his best to stifle his laughter.

"Hi, Ryusang! Fancy seeing you here! I thought we annoyed you so much during our freshmen year that you'd hate to be within even 10 miles of us!" Edward chimed in, grinning widely.

"Of course you guys think this is funny," Ryusang said through gritted teeth, pushing through the three troublemakers into their room. There was one unoccupied bed and he quickly unpacked his luggage and climbed onto the bed and flopped down.

If Ryusang had thought his first day back on campus was bad, his classes proved otherwise. Every single class he was in, Hwaseong seemed to magically be in as well and he just wanted to bang his head against a wall. Every lecture ended with Ryusang being one step closer to just wanting to drop out and becoming an exotic dancer. He knew he would be disowned by his family if he did and he was already well into his law degree, he would just have to try his best to pull through.

The worst news came though when one of his course lecturers decided to randomly pair students together for an assignment during an elective course.

"Hwaseong and Ryusang?" the professor had called out, unnecessarily loud deciding not to use the microphone right in front of her.

"Hwaseong and Ryusang. You will be working together on this essay about music through the eras from the Renaissance era to the Romantic era.", the professor further announced, "You will have 2 weeks to complete it. You're required to write 10 000 words on a composer of your choice from each era. Chop, chop!"

Ryusang looked like he had just swallowed a whole bottle of wasted milk. He picked musicology and musicianship for his elective because he didn't think he'd have to encounter Hwaseong. Never in his wildest imagination did he ever think that they'd have to work together. Hwaseong smirked. The essay was not going to be a problem, music was a hobby of his, and studying was no problem. Annoying Ryusang was going to be the highlight of the next 2 weeks.

**A.N.** I'm splitting this into two, maybe three parts. As usual, Stanford era will only end when the music box appears and is opened and played. Let me know what you think. 


	3. Misty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. Well... Welcome to my first ever fanfic. As you'll have noticed if you've stuck around reading the fanfic long enough, my writing is quite rough and unedited, but I do promise that I'll make sure to edit it through and proofread it once I've finished with writing the fanfiction. I also do hope that my writing does improve as the fanfics progress. 
> 
> I'll also be updating at quite a slow speed because I currently do have online university classes. 
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated. Constructive criticism is also very much welcome as I am not a great writer and I'll need it to improve my writing.

As Ryusang soon found out, working with Hwaseong was filled with mixed emotions. Annoyance at Hwaseong for being downright annoying and amazement at how well they seemed to work together when they were being serious. Maybe the two weeks they'd spend together working on an assignment would change his mind about the other person.

Their shared dormitory room was currently empty with just the two of them inside, Mingi and Edward were off-campus for the weekend to visit their families. Hwaseong was currently laying on the bed just staring at Ryusang working. It was after a while before Ryusang had finally snapped.

"What do you think you're looking at?", Ryusang snapped, annoyed that Hwaseong hadn't contributed his knowledge of Romantic era music once during the study session.

"You, pretty boy", throwing a kiss and a wink over to Ryusang.

Trying to hide that he was beginning to blush slightly, a fact that Ryusang seriously hated and wanted to deny, he turned his face away and said, "Well, if you're not going to help, then you're most welcome to leave."

"What do you mean I'm not help?" gasped Hwaseong, through a hand over his heart as if offended, "My very presence near you is already a huge amount of help already! See, I'm helping you stay awake and concentrate."

At this Ryusang, rolled his eyes, and wanting to remain as Zen as possible, he decided that that was all he was going to do for the assignment today.

"What are you doing?", Hwaseong asked, being super nosy.

"Nothing that concerns you."

"Wait!"

"What now?!" Ryusang said impatiently, at his desk, packing up his things back up onto the shelf and grabbing his jacket, getting ready to leave the dormitory room.

"Come, just follow me.", came the reply before Ryusang felt Hwaseong's fingers grip on his wrist pulling him inwards suddenly.

Surprised, but wary that Hwaseong was suddenly being not annoying for once in his life towards Hwaseong, he followed him out of the college dorms and all the way out of campus. They continued like this, walking down the streets under the hot Californian sundown. Ryusang wondered where Hwaseong could possibly take him, the only place he could think of was a huge abandoned factory somewhere out of town ready for him to be kidnapped and ransomed. He suddenly froze.

"What's up?", feeling Ryusang stop, Hwaseong turned around and looked at him, puzzlement in his eyes.

"You're not... going to kidnap me are you?" Ryusang asked stupidly.

Hwaseong snorted and held back a huge laugh, "Why would I kidnap you? You're not secretly from a rich family are you?"

Ryusang stared and then to his own disgust, felt his cheek flare up and look away.

"I'm surprised you even asked," Hwaseong continued, "I thought someone who went to Stanford would be smarter asking such a dumb question, no wonder you're at the bottom of the cohort. If I really were to kidnap you, I wouldn't be doing it in the middle of a crowded street. And it's not really kidnapping if you came willingly is it?"

Ryusang bit back a response. "You didn't exactly give me a choice, you just took my wrist and pulled to goodness knows where", he thought.

"Anyways, we're almost there." Hwaseong seemed to be babbling on now not really caring whether or not Ryusang listened to him. "I came across it whilst doing some research on the Classical era of music. It's this old derelict music store, you seriously wouldn't even notice it at first glance. I-"

Hwaseong suddenly both stopped talking and walking. Ryusang was walking whilst looking at his feet and bumped into Hwaseong, swearing slightly as he rubbed his forehead. Hwaseong was right, they were in front of what seemed to be an extremely old music store, it blended in with its brick surroundings and certainly no other passerbys seemed to even spare a glance at it. There was one small rectangle window where you could just look inside of the store. Hwaseong pushed on the door and stepped inside.

It was like they had stepped into the 19th century. Every artifact could not have been less than 100 years old. Ryusang looked around in wonder as the collection filled the room up more and more with musical artifacts, instruments and scores. Behind the counter stood an ancient and kind-looking lady who was smiling down at them.

"Back are you, my darling?"

"Yes, ma'am. I was wondering whether or not you still had the item that I had reserved from last week?"

"Ahh... yes, the music box that reminded you of a past lover was it?"

Hwaseong blushed fervently, and he looked down and scratched his neck. Ryusang stood stunned, he had never ever seen Hwaseong looking so shy. In fact, he was also so loud and boisterous Ryusang had never thought Hwaseong was even capable of being shy. However, the item that the lady behind the counter had distracted Ryusang as he felt a sudden tightening in his chest. What was that feeling?

Taking the music box with both hands, Hwaseong showed the music box to Ryusang. It was obviously a very old music box. How old, they both had no idea but they stared at it. The painting hadn't faded a single bit, but the wood had aged, and it looked slightly worn down. However, it had originally been extremely well looked after. The French words _je t'aime_ carved on top of the music box was still present. Hwaseong and Ryusang were surprised to see it still so clearly carved into the wood.

"This was what you wanted to show me?" Ryusang whispered quietly.

Hwaseong nodded, serious. He gently opened the music box lid up and a ballerina slowly rose up. The black velvet and ballerina seemed to look brand new. The music also tinkled clearly. Beethoven's Fur Elise slowly filled up the old quaint store. However, both Hwaseong and Ryusang took very little notice of this. The music had woken up something inside of them both.

Hwaseong and Ryusang were both aware of a sudden rush of emotions that they had never necessarily felt to each other before. As they looked up from the spinning ballerina and looked into each other's eyes, Ryusang saw patches of memories flash before his eyes. But they were not his. "Whose memories are these?" Ryusang thought.

The music had long ended, but they continued to look into each other's eyes.

 **A.N.** Let me know what you think. I'll be rewriting and editing once I'm done with the story.


	4. Act II: Inception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. Well... Welcome to my first ever fanfic. As you'll have noticed if you've stuck around reading the fanfic long enough, my writing is quite rough and unedited, but I do promise that I'll make sure to edit it through and proofread it once I've finished with writing the fanfiction. I also do hope that my writing does improve as the fanfics progress. 
> 
> I'll also be updating at quite a slow speed because I currently do have online university classes. 
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated. Constructive criticism is also very much welcome as I am not a great writer and I'll need it to improve my writing.

_2020, KQ Entertainment, Seoul, South Korea_

_"I'm in love... I'm dream in a dream every night."_

The music stopped as the 8 boys panted hard after their intense practice session. "Great job guys!" Hongjoong breathed, grinning widely, hands on his knees.

Yeosang and Wooyoung flopped onto the floor, dead on their knees. "He's trying to kill us, hyung!" Wooyoung groaned, "Joong hyung is trying to kill us! Just look at Joongie hyung and Hwa hyung talking sneakily trying to see what else they can add to the choreography to try and tire us out even more." Wooyoung glared over at them.

"Haha, hey, stop overreacting. Let's order some fried chicken!" Yeosang said tiredly.

"The only thing you're better at than singing and dancing is eating fried chicken, Yeo. Don't you want to eat something else for a change?"

"Sure... umm... how about butter chicken?"

"I meant! A dish that's not chicken-based!"

"Oh... nope.'

Wooyoung rolled his eyes and the conversation ended knowing that his best friend's love for chicken was just slightly... under obsessive. He rolled over onto his other side and started to try and catch the attention of his crush, San. Yeosang giggled knowing how much Wooyoung liked San. Wooyoung and Yeosang were like a pair of teenage girls every time they were together, having been best friends for 5 years and telling each other everything, even their most kept secrets, not that they had anything to hide from each other. Wooyoung had liked San for a while now. Although it seemed like San had no idea, opting to spend most of his time either in the practice studio or being loud and oblivious to his surroundings.

Yeosang sighed closed his eyes to relax on the cool practice room floor. The same dream flashing across his mind again. A sunny day, a cherry blossom tree and a hand extending out to him. Another dream flashed across his mind. A university campus, a derelict music shop and a café. Yeosang's eyes opened with a start, realising there was a teardrop trickling down his face and a strong feeling of heartbreak. Just exactly were these dreams that he had such a strong adversary effect to it.

\---

On the other side of the practice room, Seonghwa and Hongjoong were talking in a discreet tone. Seonghwa was lamenting over how beautiful Yeosang was and how he'll never be able to date him because he never paid attention to him. Hongjoong was rolling his eyes at his every sentence, completely over his friend's unrequited love for 2 years.

"Did you see him through the mirror when the song first began? I nearly had a heart attack, oh my gosh, that was so hot and-", Seonghwa gushed before he was cut off by Hongjoong's annoyed voice.

"OK, OK, I get it! Go fanboy about Yeosang with someone else because I'm going to head off to the studio to compose a couple more songs for the album."

Seonghwa pouted and looked around. Jongho was once again at it, doing vocal warmups whilst Yunho was retracing the dance routine. Mingi was working out again and both Yeosang and Wooyoung were both passed out on the floor asleep. Seonghwa looked back at Yeosang's sleeping figure, finding it extremely adorable. His mouth was in a pout but most notably, Seonghwa saw a single tear roll off to the side of Yeosang's temple and he wondered what Yeosang could have possibly be dreaming about.

"Hey, loverboy!" Yunho had stopped dancing and come over to Seonghwa. "Let's go to the convenience store and get some kimbap. Lord knows that I am hun-gry."

Seonghwa nodded and left the practice studio, his mind still wondering about Yeosang. 

**A.N.** Quite short... Yes...


	5. Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys. Well... Welcome to my first ever fanfic. As you'll have noticed if you've stuck around reading the fanfic long enough, my writing is quite rough and unedited, but I do promise that I'll make sure to edit it through and proofread it once I've finished with writing the fanfiction. I also do hope that my writing does improve as the fanfics progress.
> 
> I'll also be updating at quite a slow speed because I currently do have online university classes.
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated. Constructive criticism is also very much welcome as I am not a great writer and I'll need it to improve my writing.

_ Seonghwa: _

"So... what was that all about?" Pulling Seonghwa out of a trance.

"WHAT?!", Seonghwa accidentally screamed out loud.

"I said, what was that all about? You were staring at Yeosang pretty intently, it was almost like you were in love with him.", Yunho repeated, focusing more on the large array of kimbap in front of him.

"N-no, wha-what are you trying to say?", Seonghwa spluttered.

"Hahah, just kidding, don't take it so seriously.", Yunho replied, punching Seonghwa in the arm, mouth full of kimbap.

Seonghwa sighed again. Of course, Yunho would never catch on to anything that happened between Seonghwa and Yeosang, he was literally a hyperactive puppy and would never have been within his vicinity long enough for him to ever notice anything. But Yunho was his best friend. Sooner or later, Seonghwa was going to have to tell him, if he didn't realise any sooner.

"OK fine, I like Yeosang.", Seonghwa said after a few minutes of silence minus the sound of Yunho munching on kimbap.

At that statement, Yunho spat out his food, it landing all over Seonghwa, who disgustedly wiped his t-shirt clean.

"What did you just say?! Say that again?! Tell me you're not kidding. C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!", Yunho screamed in his face.

"I like Yeosang. Or at least I think I do."

"Sooo... How long have you had feelings for him, eh, loverboy?", Yunho winked at him.

"I'm not telling you! But for a while now... It just started off as dreams about Yeosang... but they were so realistic y'know? It was almost like they've really happened before. And almost every dream I've had about him just ends with him being extremely heartbroken and it's so frustrating because there's just nothing I can seem to do to change the outcome y'know?"

Yunho blinked once in response.

Seonghwa sighed. He really didn't know what he was talking about and did not expect Yunho to believe a single word he was saying right now but he needed to get it off his chest. It was true, everything he had just said. Almost every night, he had the either one of two dreams. Either he was on a horse, wearing a hanbok and Yeosang kneeling on the ground as he drew closer to him, tears streaming doing his face. He had hugged Yeosang telling him that he'd be coming back soon. It bothered him that that was all he had said to Yeosang before jumping back onto his horse and leaving him as Yeosang screamed and sobbed at him. But why was he bothered? It seemed like a goodbye. Like this was the last time they would see each other. On better days, Seonghwa usually woke up with a heavy heart when he had those dreams. On worst days, he cried himself awake, almost feeling the emotions that he had in his dream as he rode away from Yeosang.

The other dream had been much shorter. He had met Yeosang at a café and coldly stated that he no longer loved him. Nice and short. But there were two things that bothered him. One was that Seonghwa had called Yeosang, and Yeosang had called him Hwaseong. Ryusang? Why on Earth had Seonghwa called Yeosang, Ryusang? And what reason did Yeosang have to switch his name around and call him Hwaseong instead? Another thing that had bothered Seonghwa was the lingering heavy heart that he had as he left Yeosang. Once again, he had the feeling that he would never meet Yeosang again... but why?

Seonghwa sighed again. He wished he knew what these dreams meant but constant schedules meant he rarely ever had the time to delve any deeper into his dreams.

Seonghwa got up and walked over to the counter. "C'mon, are you done? I'll pay for this round, but you better pay up the next time we stop by!", Seonghwa called.

And with the tinkling of the store bell, he exited the convenience store heading back up to the practice room.

_ Yeosang: _

Yeosang sighed and closed his eyes to relax on the cool practice room floor. Images of fried chicken floated around in his mind as he thought of his custom-made hehetmon plushie currently laying uncuddled with on his bed. It was like this for a few minutes and Yeosang was contented at the thought.

However, as it had been for the past couple months, the images of various fried chicken flavours and fried chicken vendors melted away. He was once again kneeling and looking down on the snow-covered ground, tears streaming down his face. Having been in this setting countless times already, Yeosang knew how this scene was going to play out, but no matter how times he had gone over this scene, his heart had always felt heavy and he was never ready to get his heart broken into a million pieces like he knew would happen.

\---

_Yeosang sat under a cherry blossom tree looking quite wild. At the first sign of sound, he slowly looked up and turned towards the source. The slow trot of a horse was getting closer. The figure that once again looked remarkably alike Seonghwa had arrived and alighted a fair distance away and walked the rest of the way before dropping down to envelope Yeosang into a hug._

_"I'm sorry I have no choice to leave you." Seonghwa whispered into Yeosang gently, "I promise I'll come back to you as soon as possible." He was holding onto Yeosang even tighter now before suddenly letting go and leaving Yeosang to flop back onto the ground helplessly as he got back up to walk back to his horse._

_"You promised not to leave me! You promised to protect me forever!" Yeosang screamed, he feeling his heart rip apart. Crawling on the ground, forgetting to walk and not caring about the way his hanbok was ripping as he crawled, he tried to reach the Seonghwa look-alike as the horse trotted away further and further from him back_

\---

Yeosang wondered how on Earth he still had so much tears flowing down his face if he were to be honest, but he had long given up trying to figure that out as the scene faded slowly back to black and another scene quickly flashed into his mind.

\---

_Yeosang was sitting in a café, his hands shaking, playing with the ring on his ring finger nervously, looking down._

_"Is there anything I can help with? Maybe make you an iced latte whilst you wait for your guest?", came the voice of a waiter._

_Yeosang jumped slightly at the voice. "What!", he shouted in the waiter's face, jumping out of his seat before realising what he was doing and calmed down._

_"Oh... sorry, umm yes, can I please order an iced americano please? Thanks.", Yeosang continued, embarrassed and rubbing the back of his neck, turning red._

_"No problem!", the waiter said gently. "If you need anything else, just let me know, I'll just be behind the counter." He smiled at Yeosang before turning back._

_The waiter came back a few minutes later with Yeosang's iced americano. However, along with the waiter's return came a dreaded arrival of someone he did not want to meet at the moment, fearing the worst news. The other person sat opposite Yeosang._

\---

Yeosang really didn't want to look up knowing already who he was going to see sitting opposite him and he tried to force himself not to look. But of course, the Yeosang sitting in his dreams never did as Yeosang wanted and did the exact opposite, slowly looking up.

\---

_The person who sat opposite Yeosang resembled, once again, remarkably like Seonghwa. He couldn't pull his eyes away from his. The Seonghwa look-alike's presence was almost like gravity, pulling Yeosang towards him._

_"I'm sorry, Ryusang. I don't love you anymore.", he had said before standing back up and turning his back on Yeosang and leaving and not bothering to look back at Yeosang._

_"Come back Hwaseong... please...."_

\---

The scene once again faded away to black. Ryusang? Yeosang's brain was once again spinning. Who was Ryusang? And why did Seonghwa call him Ryusang? And why had he called Seonghwa, Hwaseong? They were both together in ATEEZ and had known each other for a seriously long time and lived together. Surely, he couldn't have forgotten that his name was Seonghwa and not Hwaseong...

"Yeo? Yeooooo? Yeosangggg!!! SANGGIIIEEEEEE!!!"

An annoying voice rang straight through his head before he felt a huge shake from someone. He opened his eyes, and saw the face of Wooyoung right in front of him.

"Eww... what are you doing, get off me", Yeosang blearily said.

"Are you OK?" Wooyoung asked concerned for his best friend. "Sannie and I noticed that you were crying in your sleep. Well not crying but like you had tears falling down your face. We just wanted to know if you were OK."

"Yeah... yeah... I'm fine. I think." 


	6. Swan Lake

The weeks progressed into months. The Inception promotions were wrapping up. And as their group saw more success, it meant that Seonghwa had fewer hours of sleep every night and could only take naps here and there to make up for it. Therefore, Seonghwa barely had any time to go over his dream. As a result, the dreams slowly faded away into memories.

For Yeosang, it was the complete opposite. As they got busier with promotions, and as their popularity started to skyrocket, so did the dreams. At one point, the visions became so realistic it was hard to distinguish between reality and illusions. Finally, however, Yeosang had had enough. Chalking it down to the stress of recent promotions, he decided that it was the right thing to do to take a walk around the Han River.

Breathing in the fresh, yet dusty air of the early Saturday morning, the sunrise was currently at the edge of the horizon waiting to greet Seoul warmly for another day. His lethargic movements slowly faded away as his muscles slowly warmed up, yet his head was still ringing. He had yet another one of his visions the previous night and he was now getting extremely pissed off at them.

Just why was it, he thought, that I'm the only one getting these visions. Everybody else just seems to be perfectly fine whilst I'm just getting more and more tired every single day. Perhaps visiting a psychologist...?

He tried to shake off the thought, not realising that there was someone else who had caught up and begun to run next to him.

"...sang? Yeosangie? Hey! Yeosang!", Wooyoung nearly screamed into his ear. "What's gotten into you lately? You've just been so out of it, even during promotions and whilst we're at work."

"Eh... I don't know, just some dreams, nothing that I can't handle", came Yeosang's reply. "Hey, Woo? Have you ever, you know... had dreams that were... you know... really realistic? Almost as if they've happened before. Not in this lifetime, but like in a past life sort of sense?"

"Nope... not at all. Not unless you can't the dreams I have about me being with San all the time and-"

"OK. Alright, you don't need to tell me that," Yeosang shot back, wrinkling his nose knowing full well what Wooyoung was about to say.

"AH! That reminds me, Seonghwa hyung wants me to come and let you know that once you get back to the dorms to meet up with him. He says there's something that's really REALLY important that he wants to show you." Wooyoung winked back.

"Oh?" Yeosang's interest was piqued. Yeosang had had the biggest crush on Seonghwa ever since he had first joined the company. His twinkling eyes, tall height and innocent charisma that radiated from his every cell immediately drew him to Yeosang. Maybe it was something more, but he also felt as if he already knew everything there was to know about Seonghwa. There was a certain sadness, but there was also a certain happiness that only seemed present between each other.

It was the slight glances and smiles at each other once the cameras had been cut. It was the way that Yeosang felt a certain closeness to Seonghwa that wasn't present between the other members even between him and Wooyoung. He wondered whether or not Seonghwa also felt the same closeness that he felt.

Hah, how could he?, Yeosang thought. Yeosang was almost certain that Seonghwa and Hongjoong were dating. They were almost always together, in the practice studio, in the recording studio, they even shared a room back at the dorm. It seemed like Seonghwa almost told Hongjoong everything and vice versa.

But Yeosang still maintained his fantasies that it was a date and wondered why Seonghwa would ask him out on a Saturday.

\---Later that day---

When Yeosang was finished attempting to clear his brain, he went back to the dorm to have a quick shower before meeting Seonghwa outside in the lounge room. He was feeling extremely jittery. There were very few occasions where Seonghwa or Yeosang would be alone.

"Hey, you ready?", Seonghwa called out as Yeosang walked out of the bathroom with a towel over his wet hair.

"Almost! Just give me a minute to put some clothes on and then we can go.", Yeosang called back.

Seonghwa turned his back on the TV show that he was watching and immediately turned back, cheeks immediately flaring up into a blush.

Yeosang was wearing nothing except for a towel draped around his lower region exposing his well-toned chest muscles and abs. With his hair mostly still wet, he was looking incredibly ethereal, and Seonghwa had an increasingly hard time controlling himself unbeknownst to Yeosang. He would have to let it all out by fanboying to Hongjoong and Yunho later.

"Alright! I'm ready! Let's go."

"Huh? O-oh! Yep let's go!", Seonghwa was drawn out of his trance and also went to the door to prepare to leave the dorm.

"So where is it that you're planning on taking me?", Yeosang asked curiously.

"I wanted to go to downtown Seoul to check out a few flea markets and maybe go to an auction, a change of scene. We're always in buildings or on stages,it'd be nice to explore more of Seoul freely. Plus, we rarely have days where we're free in the first place. Who knows? Maybe we'll find something interesting out there that we could bring back to the dorms to display and even show our international fans maybe!"

"O-oh." For Yeosang, this was feeling more and more like a date between the two. Albeit they weren't going to any fancy restaurant in Seoul or an amusement park but it sounded like a fun idea.

They continued in silence for a while enjoying the bright sunlight until they arrived at a flea market in Hongdae.

"Hey! Let's come here!", Yeosang said excitedly, grabbing onto Seonghwa's arm before dragging him in.

Under any normal circumstances, Seonghwa would probably just smile at Yeosang's child-like innocence and excitement alongside the rest of the group members, however, as soon as he grabbed onto his arm, he nearly combusted and could only follow him into the market, heart beating extraordinarily fast. They took a quick look around the place but found the markets to be filled with only women's clothing and other small jewelry items that never really piqued any of their interests and so they left after a couple of minutes.

Deciding that they would take a look at an auction before having lunch, they walked a bit further before stumbling across a bunch of street stalls that sold everything from street food to fancy clothes and jewelry. One store that drew both their attention however, was a small store that sold antique items. Almost no customers were drawn to the stall, in fact, it really was so plainly unattractive that it was probably the last stall anyone would bother to stop for. However, Yeosang and Seonghwa felt strangely attracted.

Upon looking closer, Yeosang saw an old music box. He was certain that it would no longer be working. They only had a certain lifespan, right? He didn't know much about technology let alone the technology behind music boxes.

"Hey, come look at this. Do you think this thing still works?"

Seonghwa turned around from looking at an interesting snowball with a painting of a field of horses and Hanja calligraphy that he was thinking of purchasing. "Hmm?... I wouldn't know... I'm sure it's still working otherwise the owner wouldn't be selling it, no?"

That made sense in Yeosang's brain so he picked it up and inspected it closely. It was quite different from the music boxes he had ever seen, although the only music boxes that he'd ever seen were on television anyway. Opening up the top, faint, broken music came trilling lightly as the small ballerina figure moved tiredly and brokenly possibly from the many amount of turns it must have done throughout its entire life.

As soon as the music hit Yeosang's ears, however, his head immediately started ringing. His nightly visions started to flash across his mind and he held onto Seonghwa for support almost dropping the music box onto the ground. 

Concerned for his crush, Seonghwa looked held Yeosang closely. "Yeosang?! Yeo? Are you OK?", he asked. 

"No... No. Please... please... stay.... don't go."

Those were the last words Yeosang had said before he passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave comments! <3   
> Again, very rough so I definitely will be editing once I've completely finished with the fanfiction. I'm writing as I go so I don't have much of an idea as to how the story will flow.


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